The proposal would split the Golden State into three: Northern California, Southern California and a new California

The proposal would split the Golden State into three: Northern California, Southern California and a new California.

Update: Billionaire Timothy Draper says his plan to split California into three different parts qualifies for California ballot.

Remember that widely derided plan to break California up into six states that died before making it to the ballot for the 2016 state elections? It’s been reincarnated – by the same billionaire who touted the original plan – but this time, instead of six states, the proposal is to split the Golden State into three: Northern California, Southern California and a new California.

The proposal has cleared its first hurdle, and its proponent, billionaire bitcoin enthusiast Timothy Draper, can now begin collecting signatures to qualify for next year’s ballot.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla made the announcement Thursday. Draper must collect signatures of 365,880 registered voters in order to qualify for the ballot. He has 180 days to circulate petitions for the measure, and the signatures will have to be submitted to county elections officials by April 23, 2018.

The split would look like this: Northern California would include the Bay Area all the way to the Oregon border, Southern California would begin in Fresno and cover most of the southern state.

The proposal says that the current state of California has 39.5 million people, and Northern California — with the Bay Area as the center of technology — leading in per capita personal income levels across California.

In the current California, wealth is dispropotionately concentrated in the Bay Area, with the San Joaquin Valley being one of the poorest regions in the country.